Wisconsin Dairy Producers, OSHA Team on Safety Efforts

• The Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association and OSHA are expanding their support to dairy processors’ employee health and safety efforts.
• Under an agreement signed last week, the alliance will work on developing resources for the dairy processing industry on common workplace hazards, worker rights, and employer responsibilities. 
• “Our programs will focus on protecting workers from known industry hazards associated with machinery, occupational noise, heat illness and electrical safe work practices to ensure every employee safely completes their shifts each day,” said OSHA Area Director Robert Bonack, at a kick-off event in Appleton, Wisconsin.
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Kumho Tire Georgia Faces $271,000 in Penalties Following Worker Death

• Kumho Tire Georgia faces $271,000 in penalties after OSHA cited the company for 15 safety violations following a 57-year-old maintenance worker’s fatal injury.
• The fatal incident at Kumho’s Macon facility occurred on April 10, 2024, when a worker was fatally injured after the machine they were working on unexpectedly started.
• The plant has a history of non-compliance with safety and health requirements; Since 2015, the facility has been inspected nine times, resulting in 52 violations.
• In this latest inspection, OSHA cited Kumho after an investigation found the company bypassed safety procedures meant to prevent machinery from accidentally starting during maintenance. 
• The company relied on basic on/off controls and sensors instead of following proper safety measures. As a result, the company was cited for one repeat, 12 serious, and two other-than-serious violations. 
• The facility is a Chinese and Korean-owned tire manufacturer that employs approximately 560 workers from both Korea and the U.S. and has been in operation since 2016.
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Analysis ID’s Most-Dangerous, Safest Theme Parks for Workers

• Analysis by Florida law firm Schiller Kessler Group of OSHA data shows the U.S.’s most and least safe theme parks for employees, 
• The study examined reported incidents across 173 theme parks in the U.S., reviewing data from 2018 to 2023.
• The average incident rate across most U.S. parks remains below 5%, according to the report.
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House Republicans Push for  Watchdog Probe on FDA Laboratory Safety

• Republican members of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee have requested an assessment of the adequacy of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) support for the Office of Laboratory Safety (OLS).
• In a letter sent last week, Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Subcommittee on Health Chair Brett Guthrie (R-KY), and Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chair Morgan Griffith (R-VA), wrote that they are “concerned that the FDA is not meeting important federal safety requirements to protect its employees and the public while also failing to prioritize scientific data quality delivered from FDA laboratories.”
• The letter cited a committee study that found the FDA is not complying with OSHA requirements for annual inspections of the agency’s laboratory on the campus of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
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